Help! I think new cat got under the floorboards

[Startingagainandagain]

I am so upset and don't know what to do. I got a rescue cat three days ago and all was going well. I had closed all the access I could think of.

The cat slept on my bed last night and everything was fine.

Then morning no sign of her.

I then realised the door that led to the utility cupboard was slightly ajar although I had closed it the night before and put a big plant in front of it to secure it further. No idea how it got open.

There is the electrics board and also the stopcock and a small access that lead under the floorboards of the living room so all I can think of is that the cat got in there as I have searched the entire house several times...

I don't know what to do. I can't hear her anywhere. I tried calling and shining a flashlight in there.

I am absolutely heartbroken and worried she got herself stuck in there, can't get back out and that I will never see her again.

Any suggestions apart from just randomly removing some of the wood flooring and hoping I can locate her?

It is a 1930s house and there is quite a big gap between the floorboard and all the pipe work so she could be anywhere by now...

I really hate myself for not securing the hole better. I have the light on in the cupboard hoping it might guide her back out and I am listening for any noise and mewing sounds.

Are you sure it isn't anywhere else?
When our cats were kittens we thought they'd escaped the house as we couldn't find them anywhere. We had half the neighbours looking for them.
Eventually, we found them, indoors, in a really hidden place under blankets.

Put some food in the usual place and wait. Always works when I can’t find DCat!

Thank you for the responses so far but I have checked all her hiding places and she is nowhere to be found. At least if I could hear her meowing I could try to locate and rescue her...but I can't hear a thing.

Am sure she'll appear when she's hungry. Put some of her food or even tuna in the utility room to lure her out of her hiding spot.

Have you tried shaking biscuits xx

My cat did this a few years ago (via old heating vent high up in the garage). It was horribly stressful- it took me ages to figure out how he got in as garage access was very limited.

Give her time & she will hopefully find her way out. Maybe waft some very fragrant food by the entry point.

Good luck - try & stay calm and give it time. If she got in she can get out.

Warm up some food so the smell wafts and wait

I have a similar issue I'm my airing cupboard I nailed a piece of carpet over the hole but I still stand and watch if anyone comes to work on the boiler it's like my cats KNOW there is a hole

Put some very smelly food by the hole. Tuna perhaps as that smells quite strongly.

Cats are so good at hiding. Have you checked the top of all your cupboards/wardrobes? Up chimneys is also a known cat hiding place.

I hope you find her soon.

Thanks everyone for the support. I have put some smelly wet cat food at the entrance point.

I really think this is the only place she can be. I have searched everywhere else several times and there is no access to the outdoors.

I am really blaming myself for this as I should have covered that hole but the door was closed and I had secured it so I really can't think how she managed to open it...

Perhaps put a bit of food in each room and see if any disappears.

Put some smelly food down for her - some tinned fish of some sort. Warmed up if you can so it smells even more.

Is she still very timid? Trying to work out if leaving it very quiet so she comes out, or having a radio on or something would be better!

Don't want to worry you unduly, but is there any chance she could have got out of the house or into the neighbours houses from under the floor?? Do you know anyone with a flexi camera thing you can poke down to either see if you can see her or see where it leads? Builders and plumbers sometimes have them.

X post!

I'd also put some smelly food down somewhere else, just in case she's tucked away behind a chest of drawers or something.

My parents cat did the same when they moved house. We were convinced she had escaped. She eventually reappeared a day later

Yes this is why I am worried as well.

This is a terrace so I am not sure whether there is any access to next door from under the floors. or not. I don't think so from what I saw when I had the floorboards up to rewire the house but you never know. What a nightmare. And it being Christmas as well. I am not even sure who I could call.

The likelihood is that she’s going to saunter out at some point and act like you’re a loon for worrying. Cats are pains in the bum for this.

You don’t have a chimney do you? One of mine jumped up there once and I was frantic. She plopped out as I was crying on the sofa and shouted at me because I hadn’t fed her 😂

Put some stinky food out and wait. Try not to panic, I’m sure she will be fine.

I am in two minds as to whether I should leave it for a few hours to give her a chance to get out/reappear on her own or if I should try to remove some of the flooring and listen from sounds from there.

But again doing that might push her even further as the noise of me removing the boards would scare her.

The chimneys have been blocked in the house so no access there...

Don't panic. She could be anywhere. We lost our kitten on day three. Looked absolutely everywhere. She appeared a couple of hours later totally fine. They get into the tiniest of places. Still no idea where she was.

We lost our son’s hamster under the floor boards. She turned up 4 days later in next doors kitchen.

We cut a out a portion of floor board and put in a ramp but I’m guessing the cat is big enough to get out. Our cat decided to go for a jolly under the floor whilst we were waiting for the hamster and nearly gave my husband a heart attack whilst he was looking for the hamster under the floor.

I'd wait a couple of hours to be honest.

OK I will give it a couple of hours and reassess. She tends to hide during the day and come back out in the evening so it might be a long wait.

Keep a discreet watch at night when the lights are out - she may emerge then to eat. That's what one of mine was doing when he disappeared for a week, as we later realised, behind one of the kitchen units. He wasn't new but we'd just moved house and it obviously upset him. I found him when he sneaked out at midnight to eat and use his trays.

I rang my trusted handyman who is also a cat lover/owner and who did some work on the wood floors and he said that there is no access to the houses next door from the flooring and suggested as well to put food out by the hole. If she has not reappeared in a few hours he will come in to look under the floorboards...cats.

I had two very timid rescue cats and completely lost one the first day they came. I thought she had got through a tiny hoe in the attic wall into the roof space - terrace so this disconnect along the row. I was frantic. Eventually my daughter found her - she'd gone under a kitchen cupboard and then up behind it. The only evidence was 2 small paws still on the ground which DD could see by lying in the floor and shining a torch under. They really are geniuses at hiding and also have pretty good senses of self preservation so are unlikely to deliberately go somewhere they can't get out.

Excuse typos. On the app so can't edit. My phone keeps changing stuff randomly lately! Hope it's clear.

When our cat disappeared under the floorboards for several hours, we waved a torch around by where we thought she'd gone down. She soon appeared, bedraggled and covered in spiders webs. I cried with relief.